She loves to quilt Theressa Isaacs presented a program on quilts at the Flora Senior Center last Friday. The sampler quilt she is holding has 30 different design patterns. She said she is mostly self-taught. Comet photos by Jennifer Archibald Theressa Isaacs of Flora made her first quilt in 1930- 31. She got the pattern from the Logansport Press (newspaper), and she did the quilting by hand.

At age 93, she's still making quilts and still quilting them by hand.

She brought several examples of her work to the Flora Senior Center last Friday for a program she presented.

"I quilt for fun," she said.

Although she has sold some of her quilts, she has given away most of them to family and friends.

She recalls that one year she made 13 quilts. That was a good year for her craft, but she said it was not a good year for housework.

She's not sure how many quilts she has made, but she said they number at least 98 because that's how many she has recorded in her three personal quilt registries. These contain pictures of the quilts, their pattern name, color scheme, date started and completed, and the history of the quilt.

Mrs. Isaacs has made many different kinds of quilts. Examples are Dresden Plate, Hunter's Star, Sampler, Origami Star, Giant Dahlia, and Field of Diamonds.

She does some of the designing herself, especially with what she calls "picture quilts." One such quilt that she showed at the program has a Holland theme, and she designed it from a postcard. On another quilt, the inspiration for one of her designs came from a weed she saw in Texas.

Those at the program commented on Mrs. Isaacs' detailed stitching and designs, the work she put into her quilts, and the beautiful color schemes.

Mrs. Isaacs has also quilted for people who have done the piecing themselves. She said she did all the quilting for her mother's quilts.

One of the quilts she brought to the Senior Center was a red and white intricate pattern of circles and squares. The quilt was started by Mrs. Isaacs' mother-in-law, Nora Lewis Isaacs, who died in 1918. The unfinished quilt was found by a family member in 1978.

Mrs. Isaacs set out to finish her mother-in-law's quilt, but ran out of fabric. She finally found matching fabric, completed the piecing, and quilted it. She finished the project in 1996. Mrs. Isaacs said she's never seen another quilt like it.

Mrs. Isaacs has quilted with the Americus Quilt Club, which is the oldest active quilt club in America. She said she is a member of national and state quilting associations, and she has shown quilts at Battle Ground.

She said at 93, she doesn't know how many more quilts she'll make. But at the present time, she has eight quilts to complete.